The Storm
by Adipodes Poe
Summary: Hermione is fishing for a proposal. But, will she go too far? Third in the series, following "Waiting". A flashback of sorts. PLEASE R/R!!!


Disclaimer: You know by now that I don't own them. Don't sue me, I *still* don't deserve it. Every once and a while, Hermione needs to make a mistake. This is Hermione's mistake. This is the third in what is shaping up to be a fine series of vignettes. This fits in with the same universe as "Completely", and "Waiting". PLEASE, READ & REVIEW! I want to write more, but I need incentive! I think I'm going to call this series "Moments". Be on the lookout for continuation! (This is very angst-y and I really need reviews on it!)

  
  
  
  
  
  


Dedicated to every person who, like me, loves the sound of the summer rain.

  
  
  
  


The Storm

  
  
  
  


Hermione was tired.

She was tired of wanting, tired of hoping, tired of KNOWING and having to wait. On her calculations, her perfect plan of action should have had Ron groveling on his knees, telling her that he loved her and asking her that sacred question.

Now goddamn it! WHERE was her question?

They had been together for almost two years now. Happy didn't describe what they were. It had ben evident to everyone else, even as children, that together they could accomplish anything. But the problem was, Ron had to do this whole asking thing on his own and it was nearly driving her insane. 

Thinking hard about all of this, she walked around her tiny flat, trying to think of a quick and effective plan 'B', but nothing was coming to her. Then, it was as if a bolt of lightening shot out of the sky and planted the perfect solution in her head. A row.

Fighting with him had been the way she'd accomplished almost everything in their relationship. They'd been fighting when he told her he fancied her at the end of sixth year, they had been fighting when he kissed for the first time. Come to think of it, most of their fights had been monumental happenings. And this one would be no different. In fact, this would be the best row in the history of their relationship, because one way or another, she was going to get engaged to Ronald Weasley today, even if she had to ask him herself.

Setting her mind to the task, she stood up, took out her wand and apparated to the Burrow. Ron didn't live at the Burrow anymore, but his mother had some de-gnoming that needed to be done and she was sure she could find him there.

Sure enough, she 'popped' into the yard and there he was throwing a gnome over the garden wall.

"Hello Ron." she said, trying to sound cold even though the mere sight of him got her heart racing and her skin tingling.

"Hey love, what are you doing here. Come to see me?" he stood and started to walk over to her.

*plan B is in effect* she thought.

He came close to her and it took every ounce of self-control she had to pull away from his arm that tried to encircle her waist and narrowly dodge the kiss that tried to land on her cheek, "No, I've come to see your mother."

And with that she walked, primly into the house, noting his look of confusion and annoyance.

"Hello Molly, very nice to see you." she said, strutting into the kitchen and leaning against the table, "Fred, George, eating your mother out of house and home again are you?"

"Oh hello Hermione dear, what brings you here? Visiting Ron?" asked Mrs. Weasley with a smile.

"No!" I glared at Ron and sat down in a huff. His confusion turned to anger before anyone could bat an eyelash.

"Alright Hermione. What exactly are you on about? What did I DO now?" Ron asked, folding his arms and looking expectantly at her. She tried to think of something that would anger him, but for the first time in her adult life, Hermione's mind failed her. It was a great shock. A shock that made her say the most brilliantly stupid thing that had ever come out of her mouth.

"You....you don't.....you don't love me anymore." Hermione said and tried to look as though she was holding back tears.

"I WHAT?" he said, eyes going wide and arms dropping to his sides.

"You heard me!" Hermione began making everything up as she went along, "I see the way you look at other women when we're out. You don't feel the same way about me like you did before. I don't even know why I'm still with you!"

Ron, Fred, George, and especially Mrs. Weasley had their mouths wide open in amazement. Then Hermione saw something that she hadn't bargained for in the depths of the eyes she loved so much. Ron looked genuinely hurt.

"How could you ever say anything like that? Don't you know how I...adore you. You are so completely amazing and brilliant. What gave you the idea that I could think of any other woman the way I think of you?" Hermione stood there stunned, she had made a very dangerous mistake. She knew this because Ron was doing something that she had never seen him do in the entire time she'd known him. He had a LOT of pride, and men with lots of pride didn't cry easily. And there he stood, tears clearly building up in his eyes and trembling as he struggled to keep them from overflowing. 

Hermione wanted to speak, to tell him about her silly plan and the fact that she didn't really think that about him. She wanted to tell him that she loved him that way too. But she couldn't, because her voice was constricted in her throat as she realized that she'd just made a drastic change in their relationship. And without knowing it, she had given him back something that her love was solely responsible for taking away in the first place: Ron's insecurity. She *wanted* to speak, but she didn't. Instead she just stood there open-mouthed.

"I thought you knew how much I.....love you. I guess I was wrong." he said, walking briskly past her and out the front door. He'd said it. He'd even said it in front of witnesses. He loved her. This fact alone jump-started her back to reality. She rushed out of the kitchen after him. She nearly tripped down the hill trying to move her uncoordinated feet to keep up with his long gait. She stepped onto the gravel road and yelled his name at his retreating form.

"Ron!" her own eyes were filling up with tears and she would simply die if he refused to turn around. At the sound of his name he stopped and slowly turned, but didn't move any closer to her, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said."

"Then WHY?!" he was no longer quiet and serious. Now, he was angry and hurt. He unconsciously began to walk toward her, "Why in MERLIN"S NAME would you accuse me of something so awful and then have the audacity not to MEAN IT!? Good HEAVENS, Hermione, I've NEVER looked at ANYone else the way that I look at you. I think of you every moment of every BLOODY DAY! When I wake up, before I go to sleep and ALL the time in between. I see your face EVERYWHERE! Every other woman I see on the street, EVERY other woman I talk to has YOUR face. When I close my eyes at night I see YOU, the curl of your hair, the twinkle in your eyes, the GODDAMNED curve of your hips. And to think I was trying to get up the courage to ask......oh never mind." buried his face in his free hand while the other was in his pocket. Hermione almost cried out loud at her stupidity. She began to walk toward him, but stopped when he held his hand out to stop her.

"Oh Ron. I never wanted to hurt you. This is the most stupid thing I have ever done. I'm such an idiot. Please let me explain..." her tears were flowing freely now and she was pleading with him. She felt him slipping away.

"Explain what?! HOW can you POSSIBLY EXPLAIN?! There is NO GOOD REASON for the things that you ACCUSED me of!" He screamed, frustrated. The sky began to darken.

"I had this stupid plan, but I didn't think about it. I didn't really mean all of those things....I made them up off of the top of my head! I KNOW that you love me. I was trying to....trying to....Oh Merlin I never meant any of those things....please, Ron, please..." Hermione shivered in her white muggle tee shirt and jeans. She didn't even try to wipe her face as she sobbed, begging that he understand.

At this last admission he stopped trying to scream at her, instead he took a step closer to her, but not too close, "You nearly killed me when you said that. What were you trying to get me to do? I show you I love you all the time. I know I haven't said it in so many words, but I thought you knew.....I thought you could feel it. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. For the rest of forever. What could possibly compel you to say those things, even if they weren't true?"

Hermione knew she wouldn't be able to get around telling him the truth, she had to tell him and face the consequences, "I wanted you to....to....I'm so selfish. I was trying to get you to propose. I'm sorry."

The look on Ron's face was unreadable as the two of them stood there, trying to process the situation. Then, Ron did the thing that Hermione least expected him to do. He smiled, a genuine, lopsided, Weasley smile. Relief flooded through Hermione's body. Neither one of them spoke for a long time, Hermione still crying steadily and Ron grinning. He pulled something out of his pocket.

"Catch." he said, and tossed it to her. She had never been very coordinated, but managed to keep the object from hitting the ground. It was a little black box. Hermione started to cry harder. She slowly opened the box and inside was the most beautiful little ring she'd ever seen. She looked back at him and a bolt of lightening shot through the sky illuminating the burrow. 

And it was just one of those moments when the sky opens up and the heavens pour down on the earth. And all the frustration and anger and confusion is gone because the cosmic forces have taken over. She was no longer herself, that girl that she was then, with those same questions and insecurities. She was a being, almost ethereal, giving all of her soul and her passion to the air and letting it mingle with his. These are the moments that drive little girls to play wedding and house and mother. It's the singular want, and need and yearning to be a part of something that takes hold of common sense and turns it into emotion. The want to feel deep, silly, sexy, wonderful, stupid, passionate love. And that is what hit her, at that moment, standing in the street, feeling warm on a cold afternoon, staring into the eyes of the person she'd been waiting her entire life to know. It can only be described by saying, that if you were to put all the feelings you'd ever felt when you heard a love story or read a romance novel or seen a sappy romantic movie and added them up, then doubled them, all those feelings would never match what Hermione was feeling when the raindrops came spilling down on the two of them, standing not a full three feet apart, both wanting to close the gap, but scared to do so all the same. It was as if all the "what ifs" had been washed away and now all that was left was the raw, undeniable magnetism of young lovers.

  
  


PLEASE!!! REVIEW! If you don't I might have to resort to a review ploy like Silver Phoenix's review songs! REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


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